The Favor
by Josefsfreshie
Summary: Sequel to Saving a Friend. Beth calls on Josef to do a favor for her to save Mick from Dean but what does Josef want in return? Takes place at the end of "Click." Beth POV. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, so here we go again. Here's the first chapter of the sequel to Saving A Friend. I know it's short but this is a short story compared to Saving A Friend. As always I love reviews, please keep them coming!_

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I couldn't believe I actually called Josef to come over. I didn't even know him that well. _Well except for our little "talks" about human and vampire relationships._ He'll probably think I'm crazy for even asking him to do this, why should he even do this for someone he barely knows. _No, I have to get him to do this, no matter what. Mick has saved my life too many times already, now it my turn to do the same for him._ I really don't even know what I'm asking Josef to do. I have to get Dean out of the picture that for sure, but I don't think he's the kind of guy you can bribe. _Am I asking Josef to kill him?_ Maybe.

A knocking interrupts my thoughts. _It's Josef. _Okay, calm down, I just have to lay out exactly what's going on and see how he reacts. He's a four hundred year old vampire, this probably isn't his first time dealing with a human wanting to out vampires to the rest of the world.

"Hello, Beth," Josef's greets me as I open the door, "You know, usually when we have our little vampire sex talks we do it at my office. This should be very interesting to do at your place, though the décor a little.. Pathetic. You should redecorate or pay some one to do it because this is just sad," He was critiquing my apartment as he sat down on the couch.

"That's not why I called you over here, Josef, and my choice is decorating sure wasn't the reason either. I need you to take a look at these." I held out the pictures Dean sent me. Josef got up and took the pictures from my hand and began going through them. "The rest of the paparazzi have moved on, Dean won't. He won't stop stalking Mick."

Josef sighed, "And eventually he'll get a picture of Mick vamping or drinking blood. You know this whole digital revolution is bad for vampires. Back in the day a photo didn't matter."

"Because vampires come out blurry on film?" I asked.

"It's the silver in the emulsion," he answered back, "And all a blurry photo proves is the photographer's incompetence."

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" _I knew he had to have experienced it first hand, he's too old not to have._

"Let's just say there was a uh.. particularly rowdy night at Garbo's I wouldn't want documented."

"Don't tell me," _my turn for the quick come back_, "you're the reason she wanted to be alone?"

"Now Beth, you wouldn't want me to kiss and tell would you?" he shot back. _I feel like that statement had more to do with our recent "friendship" than with Garbo._ Josef walked over next to me as he gave me a small smirk. _Why do I feel like I should be blushing?_ "So what do you want me to do about this Foster character?"

"I thought you could handle it. You know, pay him off or something," I said dryly. _What do I want him to do?_

"Well do you think that will work?"

"No," I gained back my confidence. _I know what I'm asking him just say it, it's Josef._

"Well, you know how I'm going to handle it," he already knew what I meant.

"Mick has protected me, saved me more times than I can count."

He nodded, "And you're returning the favor?"

"Just don't tell him we're doing this," _like I need to tell him._

"I can keep a secret," another quick small smirk as he moved toward the door. Then he turned around, "But as long as you're involved with Mick and you work at BuzzWire, his secret will always be in danger." He paused for a minute before heading out the door.

Now alone, I let out a sigh. _Oh, god I never thought about the fact that I'm a reporter and my boyfriend is vampire. How could I be so stupid, that's why Mick is in this situation in the first place._ I honestly knew that sooner or later I was going to have to make a choice between Mick and my job, I just didn't want to admit it. I already know which one I'll choose there's no use trying to prolong it and really I can't see myself working at BuzzWire without Maureen there. _It's just another tabloid without her there. _

I went to get ready for my date with Mick knowing that I would be able to tell him some surprising news. _Not really all that surprising. _I could also rest assured that Josef would take care of Dean. _Mick really doesn't know how lucky he is to have a friend like Josef…_


	2. Chapter 2

_Here is chapter 2 everyone I'm glad there are people who actually read my stories. As always Ilove reviews. Your support is what keeps me going and my Josef inspiration alive. So let's find out what Josef wants._

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I came home from the Arbor Bistro feeling good. This was going to be the beginning of a new relationship with Mick, no more BuzzWire, and no more Dean _hopefully_. And since my talks with Josef, I have a new perspective on the whole vampire human relationships. Even though now I was officially jobless, I felt happy, like nothing could stop me, until I opened my door to find Josef in my apartment. It startled me at first and I let out a gasp.

"Hey, Beth, so how was your date with Mick?" he asked as he got up from my couch.

"How long have you been in my apartment, Josef? God, that's breaking and entering, you know?" I said back to him as I threw my keys on the kitchen counter and put my phone back in its docket.

"Oh don't worry, Blondie. I've only been here a few minutes. By the way, if you don't want vampires breaking into your little sad apartment, which other than me and Mick I find unlikely, don't leave your window open. Now if I remember correctly I answered all of your questions at my office right off the bat. I think I deserve the same, don't I, especially since I just got done taking care of Dean Foster for you."

This got my attention. "He's taken care of?" Josef nodded, "When?"

"It was done while you were on your date," Josef walked over to the counter where I was standing, "I had a few associates hang out by the bistro since I knew that's where Mick would take you. What better way to catch somebody following someone else than watching the person they're following? Maybe I should be a PI. What do you think, Blondie?" And with that he gave me a little smirk.

"I think I'm just glad the whole thing is over with," I told him with a smile as I started to move toward the fridge to grab something to drink. I was going to offer him something, but then I realized how silly that would be. _Yeah, let's offer the 400 year old vampire a Pepsi right after we just had the discussion on drinking other fluids._

"Well, the only reason I came over was to make sure you could sleep well tonight knowing Mick would be safe and to discuss you doing a favor in return." Josef was leaning on the counter a bit to keep me in his line of vision.

I shot straight up from the fridge when I heard him say favor. "Josef, I didn't realize you would want something in return. I really don't have anything to offer you. I thought you were just doing this to help Mick."

"I did do this to help Mick, but don't worry Beth, I don't plan on having Ryder empty your bank account and take control of your apartment because of me taking care of one slime bag who probably would have been killed by someone sooner or later. No, my request is much simpler than that. It's just a little something for my enjoyment that Mick will never know anything about and will even up the score a little between you and me. Honestly I think you might be able to look at this as a continuing lesson from our last little talks."

"What do you want, Josef?" I gulped hard. My heart was racing at all the possibilities running through my head of what a 400 year old vampire could want from me. _He already has tasted my blood. What else could I offer?_

"I want to take you on a date. Don't worry your little head, it will be outside of L.A. and I don't plan on having sex with you afterwards," he smirked at me and came closer, "I want to show you what a real date with a vampire is like." He kept coming closer until he had my backed in a corner of my kitchen. "I know you know about the girls at my office and home." He reached up and gently took his hand and stroked my cheek, "I want you see what they see when I take them on the town." He was looking me straight in the eyes now and I couldn't look away. _He wants me to return the favor by him taking me out to dinner? What's going on in his head I wonder? He's so different from Mick. _Josef didn't let me answer. He just backed away and said, "I'll send a car to pick you up at six tomorrow evening. Dress nicely, not too casual or formal. I think you can handle that." He began to make his way towards the door and then turned around, "Oh, I almost forgot. Make sure it is a dress and that it has little to no sleeves. I would say to have your hair up but if Mick found my bite marks on your neck he would kill me, slowly. We'll stick to arms, easier to cover up." Then, he left.

I stood there, still a little in shock. _Is he planning on biting me? Shit! _Of course, this is going to be a Josef date. I have to play by his rules and do what he says just like one of his girls. That's what he really wants. He wants me to experience what it's like to be one of his girls who donate blood to him. _This is way too weird. Where the hell is he taking me to anyway?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Ah, another chapter up. As always love the reviews and I'm so glad there are people out there that like my story. Well, enough of that, let's get on to what Josef's up to!!_

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It was now 5:30 and I was still trying to figure out what to where. _How am I supposed to know what to wear when I don't know where I going? _I had told Mick I needed some time to figure out what I was going to do for job. _Yeah, and that apparently involved a date with Josef. This is wrong._ I still had to go through with it though. Without Josef, Dean would have stayed on Mick constantly and if he found something Mick would have to leave. _I can't handle that, not when we just now got together._ Josef not a horrible person either. He has been friends with Mick for 50 years and I doubt he is going to betray their friendship. This is just his idea of a joke, my payment for coming to him for help and not Mick.

I sighed. Well he did say he wanted something casually dressed up and we didn't want pants. I did have that one black summer dress that I bought two years ago to go to a party at the ADA's office. _When Josh was still alive._ I grabbed the dressed off the hangar quickly and went to the bathroom to get changed. I didn't put too much makeup on, just some light red lipstick, a faint grey eye shadow, and a little blush. I decided to curl my hair but leave it down. I went into my living room and started looking for my black heels. As I did I looked out my window to see a Ferrari parked right across from my apartment. _How many cars does he have?_ I looked at my phone to see it was 6 o'clock sharp. I quickly put on my heels, grabbed my small clutch, and left.

I walked up to the Ferrari and the passenger door opened. "Hop on in, Blondie," Josef said.

"So how many cars do you have anyway?" I asked him as I slipped into the seat.

"Depends on which country you're talking about. I have eight that I keep in L.A. but I have more at my other homes," he looked over at me, "Good choice. You look nice. It's dressed up but not overdoing it."

"You should have seen how long it took me to figure out what to wear. Kind of hard to choose when you have no idea where you are going and your date happens to be your boyfriend's best friend," I stressed the last part, looking at him.

Josef gave a small laugh, "Don't worry. Like I said, I do know your Mick's girl and I have no plans on taking advantage of you. So just enjoy yourself."

"Fine, but seriously where are we going? I know you said it was outside of L.A but what if Mick finds out?"

"Well, does he know you won't be home?"

"Sort of, I told him I needed to figure out what I was going to do about a job and needed to be alone for a little bit to do that," I looked down. I didn't want to lie to Mick but I couldn't take the chance he would smell Josef on me. When I went to Josef's office last time Mick knew. _Josef lied for me then._

"Okay, you win. I'll give you a little hint. It's in Long Beach and involves a ship. It's a small vampire party an old friend of mine puts on every so often. Don't worry she's very discreet and none of the vampires there are from L.A. I never got around to actually introducing her to Mick. She usually stays in Las Vegas. All the casinos lights are more her style, but she does comes out this way sometimes for break."

It took us an hour and a half to get to Long Beach. When we got there I couldn't believe it. It was the Queen Mary.

"What do you think?" Josef asked as he got out of the car.

"Definitely not what I expected."

"I don't what it is about Abigail and ships but she loves them."

"Abigail?"

"Yeah, that's my friend's name. She about 249 I believe. Alright, lets go have some fun." He offered his arm.

We walked onto the ship together. It was a medium sized party, around 100 people total on the large ship. There was two large tables out on one side of a room we had entered. One had a ship staff member pouring glasses of wine. The other had some hor d'oeuvres arranged on it. There were several small tables on the other side, each setup with four chairs.

"So is everyone here a vampire?" I asked out of curiosity.

"No. Some are human, like you, here as refreshments or just as a date. Depends on who they are with." Josef smirked at me. "Don't worry. Just have some fun. We'll only be here a few hours and then you get to go back to your little life with Mick. Would you like a glass of wine?"

I nodded. He lead me toward the table of wine. "Do you prefer red or white?"

"White is fine," I said as he handed me a glass.

"Odd, Mick always preferred the red. So, Beth, how is life as a reporter?"

"There isn't one anymore. I took your advice. I quit at BuzzWire before my date with Mick yesterday." I took a sip of my wine.

"So, wait. You're out of a job as of now?" He seemed surprised that I quit.

"Yes, I'm unemployed. I think it was going to happen anyway. I don't do fluff pieces, and I don't do tabloids. Putting Mick in danger is also bad. I'm sure I can find another job though."

"Well, we always have room at Kostan Industries for someone like you. You could be my PR woman, deal with all the press. I go through them so quickly."

"Wonder why?" I shot back. _Well this isn't as bad as I thought it could have been._

"Well if it isn't my favorite friend, Josef," a feminine voice came from behind us and we turned around.

"Abigail!" Josef greeted our host. "I was wondering when you were going to pop up."

"I glad you decided to come tonight. I know how busy your schedule is. So who is your friend? One of yours I suppose?" she looked at me. She was a small woman with short, red hair. She looked about five years younger than me, but of course I knew she was actually 220 years my senior.

"No, actually she belongs to my friend I was telling you about, Mick. I asked her to come along tonight as a favor to him." He looked straight at me with a grin.

"Well I hope you enjoy the party Josef and hopefully we'll have some time to catch up soon." she waved as she made her way towards some newcomers.

We the rest of the evening mostly to ourselves. I asked Josef more about Mick, but he was reluctant to tell much. Mostly the stuff I already knew. They met through Coraline, and became close over the years. I spent most of the time looking at the differences between Josef and Mick. I really wondered what it was like to have been friends as long as they have. They are so different. Josef lives a flashy life having fun and making money but also living with the pain of Sarah. Mick sees himself as a monster and just never sees the good parts about being a vampire. Josef just seems so comfortable with what he is. It seemed like time flew and before long it was 10 o'clock. Early for a vampire but we still had to drive an hour and a half back. The party was just like anyother party except I did see quite a few couples sneaking off to other parts of the ship.

The ride home to L.A. was quiet. As we we got closer to our destination Josef started talking again, "So was it all that bad?"

"No. You made it seem in my apartment like this was going to be something completely different."

"What can I say? I wanted to see you nervous. And who's to say the night's over yet? It's only 11:30. We're going to go to my house for a bit and then you get to go home."

"Now I thought you said we were just going to a party?" I looked at him confused.

"I said we were going on a date. A date isn't just the main event right? Like I said, Beth, my intentions for you do not involve me getting between you an Mick but since you are dating Mick and I've let you in on a lot of things, I would prefer to get to know you better."

We drove on to Josef's house which was really a mansion. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. We walked in the front. There were a few girls inside who seemed to have been waiting up on his return but when they saw me they disappeared deeper in the house. Josef let me to a room on the side with lots of windows. It looked like a home office.

"I've been doing more work here than at the office since it's being remodeled after the whole explosion incident. Make yourself at home, Mick does and you should too."

I sat down on a white couch in the middle of the room and looked out at the pool by the window. "You are just living the life, huh? Money, nice cars, girls. You are so different from Mick."

"Yeah, well Mick has some issues to deal with that I hope he get over soon. After 400 years, I choose to enjoy life." He sat down beside me. "I got to tell you. I like you a lot. I think you are a good influence on Mick. He's a different vampire with you and I like it. I hope you stick around for a while."

"I plan to for now. I really don't what will happen but we're going to try and make it work." He was looking at my wrist. I had hidden his last bite marks with a large bangle bracelet. I was so crazy last week with Tierney he only noticed Josef's smell. "Um, were you serious about the biting again?"

"Last time you asked me." he still hadn't looked up. I lifted my wrist up.

"What are yo going to tell Mick this time?"

"I wanted to know how close he was with this Tierney girl so I asked you, the reporter. Not as great as you thanking me but he did come by a couple of days ago while Tierney was still alive. It will work because he knows I'm paranoid." he smirked at me as he ran a finger down the arm I had offered. "So one taste for a favor? I can't believe Mick hasn't asked you again. Your blood is very different than most."

I looked at Josef almost blushing. _Mick had made taking my blood such a big deal in the desert. He never told me what it was like and I had never asked because he felt so guilty for doing it._ Giving my blood to Josef was so different. I nodded finally ad Josef vamped out to bite my wrist. As he did I wondered about so many things._ Is this even right? I'm hiding all of this from Mick because he does think he is a monster. I scared to even think of what he would think of all this. I only came to Josef because Mick wouldn't tell me himself._ Josef only drank a little again and there was little to talk about afterwards. He called one of his drivers on his phone and walked me outside.

"Like I said, I'm good at keeping secrets. This is just between us Beth." he told me as he helped me in the car.

"Yeah, well thank you for that Josef. Hopefully we won't be doing this again soon," I shot back as I got situated in the seat.

"Oh but I thought we had so much fun. Keep in my what I said about the job."

I will but I think I trying looking elsewhere first." He closed the door and the car started to make it way toward my apartment. I leaned back and wondered if this could really be kept from Mick. _I love Mick but Josef is definitely someone I want to pay attention to. There's so much about him I don't know about yet but something to worry about another day. Now I need to go home, get some sleep and find a job.  
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